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Valorisation of Forest Biomass Side-Streams in Add Value Green-Products for Horticultural Industry

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Valorisation of Forest Biomass Side-Streams in Add Value Green-Products for Horticultural Industry VALORISATION OF FOREST BIOMASS SIDE-STREAMS IN ADD VALUE GREEN-PRODUCTS FOR HORTICULTURAL INDUSTRY CATARINA CHEMETOVA CRAVO BRANCO DE OLIVEIRA SCIENTIFIC ADVISORS: Ph.D. Jorge Manuel Barros D'Almeida Gominho Ph.D. António Manuel Dorotêa Fabião Ph.D. Henrique Manuel Filipe Ribeiro THESIS PRESENTED TO OBTAIN THE DOCTOR DEGREE IN ENVIRONMENTAL ENGINEERING 2020 VALORISATION OF FOREST BIOMASS SIDE-STREAMS IN ADD VALUE GREEN-PRODUCTS FOR HORTICULTURAL INDUSTRY CATARINA CHEMETOVA CRAVO BRANCO DE OLIVEIRA SCIENTIFIC ADVISORS: Ph.D. Jorge Manuel Barros D'Almeida Gominho Ph.D. António Manuel Dorotêa Fabião Ph.D. Henrique Manuel Filipe Ribeiro THESIS PRESENTED TO OBTAIN THE DOCTOR DEGREE IN ENVIRONMENTAL ENGINEERING Jury: President: Doutora Maria Teresa Marques Ferreira Professora Catedrática Instituto Superior de Agronomia, Universidade de Lisboa. Members: Doutora Maria Dolores Curt Fernández de la Mora Titular Universidad Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, Espanha; Doutor Mário Manuel Ferreira dos Reis Professor Auxiliar Faculdade de Ciências e Tecnologia, Universidade do Algarve; Doutora Elizabete Maria Duarte Canas Marchante Investigadora Faculdade de Ciências e Tecnologia, Universidade de Coimbra; Doutor Jorge Manuel Barros d’Almeida Gominho Técnico Superior Instituto Superior de Agronomia, Universidade de Lisboa. Doctoral grant CGD/ISA; Bolsa doutoramento CGD/ISA Catarina Oliveira 2020 In memory of my grandfather, António Nunes de Carvalho (1937-2019) i “This is the most simple and basic component of life: our struggles determine our successes” Manson, M. (2016). The subtle art of not giving a f*ck (First edition.). New York, NY: HarperOne, an imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers ii Acknowledgments I want to thank CEF and LEAF research centres from ISA, and CGD for their financial support, without which this thesis would not be possible. I am deeply grateful to my supervisors’ team; Dr. Jorge Gominho for the encouragement, Dr. António Fabião for the inspiration and Dr. Henrique Ribeiro for believing in me as researcher to conduct the proposed theme. I must underline they always found time to communicate, discuss and help the scientific work developments along the entire time period of thesis preparation. I am pleased for the collaboration with Dr. Teresa Quilhó in elaboration of chapter 3 bark anatomy findings. I also acknowledge Dr. Ernesto Vasconcelos for the support and energy he transmitted to me to understand that all can be done with bright and calm attitude, and Miguel Martins for all the assistance and patience in laboratorial analysis determinations. I am also grateful to Parques de Sintra Monte da Lua S.A. and Fundação da Mata do Buçaco for providing the Acacia raw-material and the Navigator Company for supplying Eucalyptus globulus bark. A strong gratitude to Duarte Neiva who shared always insightful knowledge about the wood chemistry topics which would be hard to learn alone. Thank you for being my chemist teacher, my colleague, my friend, my neighbour and my cat sitting mate; it would be tough to list here all the occasions exchanged. He is one of the most dedicated persons I have ever met. A deep and warm gratitude to Dr. Solange Araújo for the trust in my professional and personal choices taken before and during the PhD phase, and hopefully our friendship continues throughout the next steps in life. I am in her debt in so many ways and thankful for always being there for me. Let me highlight that I will visit your sunny and lovely country with you soon. I am also deeply thankful to all my colleagues from ISA for the friendship and support: Sofia Lourenço, Manuel Botelho, Ana Lourenço, Inês Melo, Ana Leite, Catarina Lopes, Ricardo Costa, Josep Crous Duran, Yanick Le Page and Marta Rocha. To André Fabião for all the sharing moments since our urban farming until cellmate experiences. To Paulo Marques who trained me how hard and funny a researcher’s life can be in the field, thank you for your honesty and hardworking determination. To Marta Carneiro for practical approaches with Acacia biomass field and laboratory work. iii Master students from Agronomic Engineering at ISA gave me a valuable hands-on assistance in laboratory and greenhouse experiments: David Mota, Sofia Braga, Gonçalo Barroso, José Maria Silva, and recently the researcher Daniela Freitas. My friends that are abroad, spread in this tinny world, but always there and close to heart, Mónica, António and Katrina. Ana, Andreia and Filipe - the schoolmates for life. Bilbao’s family for sharing the intensive and lifechanging period that contributed deeply for my professional and personal development, a sincere thankful to Miroslav, Débora, Hugo and Ander. To AZTI research team and Global Food Venture Programme 19’ colleagues and organizers for the immersive learning experience during the entrepreneurial journey. Special gratitude to Kris Vander Velpen which always believed in me and continuously supported my path along the startup process creation. My soulmate and friend, Krolik, who knows me better than anyone. My parents, Svetlana and Francisco, for their never-ending support and love; they are the strongest pillars in my life! My brother, Miguel, and my nephew, Gui, for the true love shared without any extra explanation. A warm gratefulness to my grandmother, Maria Emília: she is the strongest human being in earth and my idol. iv Abstract Horticulture industry uses peat as the main constituent in growing media formulations due to its ability to support efficient plant production. However, peat is a non-renewable resource at its actual extraction rate, and environmental issues associated with greenhouse gases emission from peat harvest raised peatland ecosystem conservation awareness through environmental initiatives, organizations and politics worldwide, limiting its use. There has been an increasing demand for environmentally friendly peat alternatives focused on locally available, organic and renewable materials from industrial side-streams, mainly wood-based and forest biomass. Therefore, woody raw-materials physical, chemical and biological properties are important to determinate further pre-treatment identification and choice. This work evaluates bark- based growing media suitability from non-native forest species in Mediterranean region, Acacia melanoxylon – residual biomass from invasive species control – and Eucalyptus globulus – a pulpwood industrial waste-stream. Ageing, a zero-waste treatment, allowed A. melanoxylon mature bark to effectively replace half of container medium volume as peat alternative. Low-temperature hydrothermal treatment, a faster process, enabled E. globulus bark to substitute quarter container medium volume, ensuring equal plant performance as commercial material. Both raw-materials sieve size manipulation promoted its incorporation as aeration growing media component. Given the wood-based raw-materials nature, Nitrogen amendment should be provided according to plant and cultivation system’s needs. Furthermore, by replacing the ‘end- of-life’ biomass material into new potential horticultural products, circular economy approach was applied throughout this study. Thus, A. melanoxylon juvenile bark extracts phytotoxic effect showed a promising non-synthetic and natural bio-herbicide for weed control. In response to the potential circularity of invasive species biomass resources into add-value horticultural products, the present study outcome underlines Acacia species biomass commercial valorisation as alternative management tool to support the costs of control, avoiding the potential risk of conflict between economic exploitation and negative environmental impact. Keywords Peat alternatives; forest residual biomass; non-native species; waste-flow valorisation; circular economy. v Resumo A indústria hortícola utiliza a turfa como constituinte principal na formulação de substratos devido às suas características ideais para a produção eficiente de plantas. A turfa é um recurso não renovável à escala de extração atual, e problemas ambientais relacionados com a emissão de gases com efeito de estufa devido a esta extração aumentaram o apelo à conservação do ecossistema das turfeiras através de iniciativas, organizações e políticas ambientais, limitando o seu uso. Existe uma crescente procura por materiais alternativos à turfa e “amigos do ambiente”, centrados em recursos localmente disponíveis, orgânicos e renováveis, provenientes de resíduos industriais, concretamente da biomassa florestal. Consequentemente, a caracterização física, química e biológica das matérias primas florestais torna-se essencial para uma escolha eficiente do pré-tratamento exigido. Este trabalho avalia a aptidão de substratos provenientes da biomassa de espécies florestais não-nativas na região Mediterrânica, como Acacia melanoxylon (biomassa residual proveniente do controlo de espécies invasoras) e Eucalyptus globulus (subproduto da indústria da celulose e papel). O envelhecimento, um tratamento livre de resíduos, permitiu a substituição de metade do volume, em vaso, de turfa por casca madura de A. melanoxylon sem comprometer a qualidade da planta. O tratamento hidrotérmico a baixa temperatura possibilitou a mistura de um quarto de volume de casca de E. globulus, com crescimento da planta igual ao substrato comercial. O controlo da granulometria promoveu a incorporação das cascas como agentes de arejamento do substrato. A fertilização azotada deverá ser aplicada tendo em conta as necessidades da planta e do sistema de cultivo. A casca juvenil de A. melanoxylon
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